Textual Analysis Of Luke 7: 1-10

Before diving into the content of the story of the centurion and his slave in Luke 7:1-10, examining its context in the larger picture of Luke and the Gospels helps in understanding what sort of message is being communicated as the passage unfolds. For example, one of the major overarching themes in the book of Luke that comes into play in this passage is that of Jesus’ ministry to those who have been despised or excluded from the faith for different reasons. Furthermore, this passage parallels Matthew 8:5-13 and John 4:46-53, however, there are a number of differences between the accounts, such as how it is only in Luke that the centurion never meets with Jesus in person and tells Jesus not to trouble himself, and how the one in need of
This links the passage to the previous chapter, as “the people” is a direct reference to the crowds of Luke 6:18-19. It is to these people that Jesus spoke the Sermon on the Plain, which highlighted the importance of forgiving, giving, and loving one’s enemies. In this passage, then, Luke establishes that the setting for the story is in Capernaum and that Jesus is one of the central characters. Jesus is coming back into Capernaum, the central location for his Galilean ministry, where he encounters an opportunity to act on some of the things he has just spoken
It is here that the centurion is identified as a focal character in this narrative. The slave is also identified here as a key figure in the story, and it is his illness that sets the scene for this narrative to take place. Centurions, as ranking officers in the Roman army, would have been seen by any reader (even non-Jewish ones) as the enemy of the Jewish people rather than the benefactor. Yet the centurion in this passage has a problem; his slave, who is very valuable to him, is so sick that he is about to die (Lk 7:2). This establishes some of the questions that drive this story. Will the centurion fit his role as an enemy? How will this “enemy” and Jesus interact? How will Jesus